WWII Airshow at Mid-Atlantic Air Museum 2023
In June 2023, Lerro Photography was hired to provide the lighting for the 3rd annual night photo session during the World War II Airshow at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, PA. The night session featured three planes, a Bell P-63 Kingcobra, a Stearman biplane, and an Aichi D3A1 Val replica.
Before the night photo session started, the airport’s fire truck sprayed water around and in front of each plane to create a reflection. Each plane put on quite a show for the attendees by running their engines, allowing the photographers to capture the motion of the spinning propellers.
On the Saturday morning of the airshow, Lerro Photography recruited a dozen reenactors to pose with the B-29 Superfortress “FiFi.” We did various crew shots, flight crews getting ready, and a real chaplain said a few prayers to the flight crew as they knelt on the ground. Once the bomber shoot was done, a small group of us made our way over to a P-51, where I dressed up in a complete WWII pilot impression and posed outside and inside the P-51.
The airshow featured planes and hundreds of reenactors and vehicles, including tanks. The re-enactors, including myself since 2017, portrayed the Allies, Axis, and civilians. Throughout the three-day airshow, several small-scale battle reenactments are held to demonstrate various features of the war. The European theater is around the French village, and the Pacific is in a grassy field. One of the highlights of the Pacific battle is using flame throwers during the reenactment.
Like every previous year, I was able to photograph many reenactors as they created living history scenes for the general public, and I am already planning shots I want to get next year.
Below are photos taken by the participating photographers and myself.
